Hi friends! Anyone else hate returning from vacations!? It is seriously the worst. I took Monday off from posting but we are back today.. & I am sharing our Saint Louis getaway! Jackson and I traveled to St. Louis about two years ago, but this time we decided to stay closer to Busch Stadium! It was a little bit more expensive, but 100% worth it. We were super close to all restaurants and major attractions. We did walk a little further for dinner Sunday night, but we took an Uber back to the hotel, which was only $6!
Back story.. the reason we visited St. Louis this exact weekend was because Jackson’s cousin was getting married on Saturday! Since we had not been to a Cardinals game in two years, we knew it was the perfect time to plan a little weekend getaway.
His family was staying in Saint Charles, which is about a 3o minute drive from the city. Since we planned on staying longer, we decided to stay at the Westin Downtown for the weekend. Like I mentioned above, this was our first time staying right by the stadium. Last time, we stayed at the Hampton Inn, which was about a 7-10 minute walk to the stadium. Do not get me wrong, we loved the Hampton and it was not terrible to walk 7-10 minutes to get to anything. But y’all, we could see our hotel while we were in the stadium still. Probably took us 1 minute {not even being dramatic here!} to get back to the hotel AFTER the game.
Overall, the hotel room was very nice and the restaurant was delicious. We have never really ordered room service before, so we wanted to try it for lunch before the wedding on Saturday. However, we did not want to pay the $8 delivery charge, so Jackson just ordered over the phone and ran down to the restaurant to pick it up. It worked out great, especially since I was still getting ready! 🙂 The second time we visited the restaurant was after the game! Since it was our last night, we finished the trip with a couple of adult beverages and a mug of apple pie. Both were very yummy! haha Would we stay at the Westin again? Absolutely, but I think we might try out the Hilton next time, which is even closer to the restaurants, but still across the street from the ballpark.
Alright, so we arrived on Friday and went to check in to our hotel first before heading to Saint Charles. Jackson’s grandparents were staying at the Ameristar Hotel & Casino so we met everyone there for dinner! After dinner, I played some slots and Jack played Blackjack. We actually won too! After, we headed to hang out by the pool for a bit! We headed back downtown around 9:00pm and passed out from exhaustion! Long day of traveling!
On Saturday, we really did not do anything blog worthy because we just rested until we had to leave for the wedding and spent the rest of the day celebrating the happy couple!!
Similar Style Dress // Shoes // Earrings // Similar Wristlet
Growing up, my family and I always went to Disney World for our vacations! Jackson grew up going to Six Flags, so we definitely wanted to make a Six Flags stop this trip. Since this was my first Six Flags experience {that I could remember!}, I really did not know what to expect. Once we got there, a little bit after opening, we did not have to wait long to get in and purchasing a locker for our swimming gear was quick and easy.
Our first ride was Batman and I loved it! After that, all of the rides just made me feel nauseous and I normally do not have this issue. The rides are 100% safe, but they just felt loose..? {side note.. I was feeling a bit sick this day so this might be the reason for this, but who knows. lol} The final rollercoaster we went on was semi-wooden and totally did both of us in. We were done with the thrill, so we headed to lunch. Lunch was… a theme park lunch. I will end it at that! We did love the waterpark area. Hurricane Harbor has all types of waterslides and a huge water playground for kiddos. We went down a couple of the slides and finished the day off in the wave pool. It was very relaxing!
We ended up leaving the park around 4pm, and since it was about 45 minutes from downtown, we arrived back at our hotel in time for a 7pm dinner. We were feeling pizza so Jackson found Pi Pizzeria on Yelp and it was delicious. It was a bit further from our hotel, so we decided to Uber back.
Monday was a packed day. We both have been in the arch numerous times, but I just love it so much, we do it every time. The journey to the top starts at the Old Courthouse. This is where you purchase tickets for the arch. This time, we found out about a Riverboat tour so we put that on our list for next summer since we were tight on time this day. Currently, the grounds of the arch are going through a HUGE transformation. Right now, you have to take a 12-15 minute walk around the Cathedral and a couple of buildings to get to the arch. After the construction, you will be able to walk from the Old Courthouse and than directly straight to the Arch. For a time frame, they were working on this project when we visited TWO YEARS AGO! Thankfully, they are almost done.
The arch is definitely a must see attraction when visiting Saint Louis! It does not take a whole day and its the perfect morning activity for the whole family. Once we completed our journey to the top, we walked over to Ballpark Village for lunch before our 2pm tour of Busch Stadium!!
Once we finished our yummy lunch, we ran over to the hotel for a quick change/drop off bags/grab tickets before our tour! Our tour group {about 27 people} meet at the Third Base gate, which just happened to be the one by our hotel! #winning
Since it was game day, we all went through security and got the break down of what we were going to see. Unfortunately, the Colorado Rockies wanted to hit BP early, so we did not get to see the dugout or go on the field. They allowed us to sit in the green seats {the really fancy ones!} and watch a little bit of their practice. The tour guide had great information about the organization and each club level we saw.
The tour was $18/person and honestly, it was not too thrilling. It was pretty interesting to see all of the club levels {Champions Club was really cool!} and broadcast booth. However, when I think of a tour, I want to get in the bones of the stadium. The locker rooms, dugouts, etc. Even on regular days, they only allow you in the dugout, no locker rooms or anything to do with the players. I will be doing some research about other parks tours to see what they do too!
The brick building to the right is our hotel! I am standing right in front of the Third Base gate!
All of the Cardinal logos over the years!
Chairs in the Champions Club!
View from the broadcast booth!
The tour lasted about an hour. We visited the team store and headed to the hotel for a quick nap before dinner with Jerry {family friend}! Jerry took us to Charlie Gitto’s and it was delicious Italian food. The owner, as well as his grandson, are incredibly nice people! The restaurant had an old school vibe and the walls were covered with pictures of old Cardinals and celebrities that had visited. So fun!
We finished dinner around 6:00pm and headed for the game!! Thankfully, the Cardinals came out on top. It has been a struggle this year, but we are crossing our fingers they figure it out!! 🙂
We had such a great time in Saint Louis, we decided to make this an annual trip! See ya next year St. Louie!
XXOO,
Nicole